Trying to get her
by HP-words.of.wisdom
Summary: James loves Lily. Lily doesn't care. As James tries to get to Lily through her extroadinary number of accidents, she falls in love with . . . Sirius! Although she might not admit it! Please read and review!
1. Lily's downfall

Lily Evans was sitting under the large oak tree near the lake. She was holding a piece of parchment and was crying her eyes out. She was shivering slightly from the cold November winds. Meanwhile, a short distance away, the Marauders were thinking of how they could cheer Lily up.

"Lily, are you all right?" asked James Potter carefully walking over to her.

"Go away, James!" Lily said crying harder if that was possible. But James sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. After desperately trying to shake his arm off, she let it stay. James grinned as the other Marauders sat down. Sirius sat on the other side of Lily, Remus next to him, and Peter the farthest away.

"Lily, tell me what's wrong," James said moving closer to Lily.

"My parents were killed by Voldemort," Lily whispered and with this she began sobbing into James's shoulder. All though James liked this move, he didn't know what to say.

"Oh, Lily. That's terrible," he said.

"Yeah, it'll be okay," Sirius said. James began to rock Lily gently, but she began to shake.

"Let's go inside," James said thinking that Lily was shaking from the cold. He took his arm away and the moment he did, Lily began to fall back. James stood up and offered his hand to Lily. She didn't notice it as she was lying flat on her back. He finally realized that Lily wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.

"Sirius, help!" Remus said and together they lifted a sobbing Lily into James's arms. James staggered a bit and then got his footing. He and the other Marauders walked slowly back into the castle and to the Gryffindor tower.

"Potter! What do you think you're doing?" asked McGonagall walked briskly around the corner towards them.

"Please, it's Lily. Her parents' were murdered and she's devastated."

"Does she need to go to the Hospital Wing?" McGonagall asked suddenly less stern.

"No, she needs to go to the common room and maybe go to bed."

"Very well, keep walking, then." As she rounded the corner, the Marauders thought that they could hear her say, "Lily's parents! They're muggles. Poor child!"

"Fiddlesticks!" Sirius said to the portrait of the fat lady a few minutes later. She swung open to admit them.

"Lucky it's dinner time," Remus said looking at the near empty common room. "Where's Peter?"

"Probably went to get something to eat, the git." James laid Lily down on one of the sofas near the fireplace. He moved it slightly so that nobody could tell if it was being occupied or not.

"Shh, guys. She's sleeping," James said ending his friends' arguments about Peter at once. "She's pretty when she's asleep."

"Yeah, because she can't hit him," Sirius said softly so that only Remus heard him. They giggled.

"Well, I guess we should get something to eat," Remus said as people began to make there way into the room.

"You can go, but I'm going to stay here with Lily, to make sure she's okay."

Thirty minutes later James stood up once again and asked people to be quiet. Lily was beginning to stir. She woke up and looked around. James smiled at her.

"You're awake. That's good!" James said smiling even brighter. Lily didn't say anything. James bit his lip and said softly, "Here's your letter. I'm really sorry about your parents." With this, Lily dissolved into tears again.

"What did you do now?" Sirius asked grinning at his best friend as he walked into the common room full of food. His grin faded when he saw Lily. "What did you say to her?"

James shrugged and asked where Remus and Peter were.

"Remus is here," Sirius said as Remus stepped into the room. "And Peter is still pigging out in the Great Hall."

James chuckled and looked back at Lily. "Do you want to go upstairs?" he asked her. Lily hesitated and then nodded before crying again. James scoped her up in his arms and asked Sirius to open the door to the girl's dormitory. Sirius obeyed and the three Marauders stepped forward. Sirius and Remus had already bounded up several stairs before being thrown back as a slide appeared.

"Well, that's not going to work," Sirius said scratching his head.

"Let's go to our dormitory," James offered. They walked back across the common room and up to their room. As there were only four of them, they only had four beds in the room.

"She can go on my bed," James said laying Lily down gently. They sat down on the floor to play a game of exploding snap when Peter walked in.

"Did you eat enough?" Sirius teased. Peter blushed and hit him playfully before noticing Lily.

"What's she doing here?" he asked.

"We couldn't get into the girl's dormitory," James said simply.

Lily opened her eyes, and James leapt up.

"How are you?" he asked.

Lily groaned and said, "Sirius . . . Sirius."

"Sirius?" all four Marauders said at once. Sirius stood up and stood next to James looking confused.

"Sirius to the rescue!" he called out. "Yes, Lily?"

Lily grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him close, her eyes going in and out of focus. "I . . . love . . . you," she whispered and as her eyes closed so did her grip. Her hand slid down his shirt to the blankets and she fell asleep again. Sirius was still standing over the bed looking dumbfounded.

"What did she say?" asked James.

"I love you," Sirius answered the words feeling strange in his mouth.

"She said what!"


	2. Recovery and anger

James was looking murderous and he began to pace the room.

"What did you say to her?" he asked.

"Nothing," Sirius said truthfully.

"Then how could she love you? Lily defiantly said love not like, right?" Sirius nodded and James growled.

"Maybe Lily didn't know what she was saying. She doesn't look it, and besides her eyes keep sliding in and out of focus," Remus offered.

"Yeah, that would be it," James said and Sirius agreed.

"Why don't we go to bed," Peter said yawning. Remus, Sirius, and Peter hopped into bed, but James who had given Lily his bed, stayed standing.

"I don't think Lily would appreciate it much if you slept with her," Sirius said.

"Yeah, but I don't want to sleep on the floor," James said.

"I know, but she might wake up before you do and murder you. Maybe Sirius should sleep with her for the time being as he is the one she seems to like," Remus said quietly. Seeing James face, he added, "I mean for the time being." James sighed and then carefully lifted Lily up and brought him to Sirius.

"You better not do ANYTHING with her! I'll be watching the entire night," James growled at his best friend.

"Jeez, all right!" Sirius said. He watched as Lily slept peacefully next to him. Sirius fell asleep listening to Peter's snores.

The following morning, the four Marauders were awake before Lily. At last, she woke up. Her eyes were normal and she looked much better.

"Why am I in here?" was the first thing that Lily said. "Potter, what did you do?!" She looked down at herself and quickly cleaned her robes and made her beautiful hair sleek and shiny.

James quickly explained everything that had happened the following night. When he told Lily what she had said about Sirius, she turned bright red. No one noticed besides Sirius who gave her a tiny smile.

"Now, would you like to accompany me to breakfast?" James asked Lily.

She gave him a dirty look and hopped out of bed. Her legs were so weak, that she promptly fell down onto the cold floor. James lent a hand and rather reluctantly she took it. Lily was so weak that she couldn't walk even when leaning onto someone. Lily was so weak because she was so sad. (And because James had secretly put a curse on her legs so that she wouldn't be able to walk for days.) Lily didn't know this and figured instead that if she became happy once more, then she would be fine.

"Let me carry you," James offered. Nobody else spoke so she nodded. He picked her up and headed down to the common room.

"Lily! We were looking for you all night, throughout the castle. We were so worried about you!" Lily's best friends Mary and Michelle said running over to her.

"Well, _someone_ thought that it would be funny if I slept upstairs with the boys!" Lily said looking at James.

"Then why is he carrying you?" the girls asked confused.

"Because-," Lily started.

"Because I can't let her get away. I love her too much!" James interjected.

"What!" the girls cried out.

"Remus, why don't you explain to them what really happened. Lily and I are going to get some breakfast," James said.

"Yeah, I'll come too," Sirius said. Peter had already run to the door at the word 'breakfast.'

In the Great Hall students and teachers alike stared at them. James grinned and sat Lily down at the table and sat next to her. She tried to move away from him, but Sirius saw this and sat on Lily's other side. She groaned and the boys grinned. As soon as they began to eat, the mail came. Most of the kids got something from their parents. This reduced Lily to tears again. McGonagall saw this and went over to her.

"What is going on here?" she asked.

"Lily's still upset about . . ."

McGonagall suddenly understood. "Come, dear. I'm going to take you to the Hospital Wing for a calming drought."

"She can't walk," James whispered. "But I'll carry her!" he added brightly.

McGonagall looked at the sobbing Lily and bright eyed James. She slowly nodded. "Very well."

James picked up Lily and began following McGonagall at the same time that Lily's friends walked into the Great Hall.

"What did James do to her?" asked Mary.

"I don't know but he's making her cry. Maybe he's taking her somewhere she doesn't want to go?" said Michelle.

James heard this but made himself keep walking. Poor Lily was now bawling.

"Poppy, Lily's parents were murdered and she is so upset," McGonagall said. With that, she turned around and walked briskly out of the room dabbing her eyes.

"Well, lay her down here, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey measured out a large amount of the calming drought, which she gave to Lily. It worked a little, for Lily stopped crying, but she still looked miserable. Madam Pomfrey looked for something that would help Lily walk, but nothing worked, for Lily was simply weak.

"All of my potions are to be used if it was a hex or spell. I'm afraid I can't help her because I really don't know what's wrong."

"All right," James said. Fireworks were going off in his head. He would be really close to Lily for days. And she would have to stay in the boy's dormitories. James was thrilled. He also got to sit next to Lily in lessons, right?

James and Lily were almost late to first period Transfiguration. Lily didn't have her books because they were in the girl's dormitories. James was more then happily to share his with her. He kept getting closer and closer to her until she told him to back off before she cursed him.

Somehow after lunch, James lost her. He had bent down to tie his shoe, and when he stood up, she had gone. He found her a few benches away chatting happily with none other then Severus Snape.

"Whoa, Lily. How did you just move from there to here?" Lily and Snape glanced at each other and continued to talk. The bell rung at last and Snape whispered something in Lily's ear. She smiled and blushed deep red. Then Snape stood up and walked away.

"What was that about, Lily?" James asked.

"Nothing," she said coolly. James sensed an argument and kept his mouth shut. For the next few nights, Lily slept in James's bed and snapped if he tried to come in to comfort her. Lily still didn't like James-at all. On Friday, she regained her strength and the curse was lifted and was able to walk away from the Marauders. Unfortunately for James, this meant she could do other things, too.

On Sunday night, James went up to the Astronomy Tower, his favorite thinking place. He pushed open the door quietly and gasped. He saw Sirius and Lily standing with their arms wrapped around each other, kissing. Their lips were together, their eyes were closed, and James was horrified. He crept downstairs where he met Remus. He told him what had happened.

"I'm sure there is a logical explanation," he said as Sirius and Lily came into the room. They were talking, and to James's relief they weren't holding hands.

James called them both over towards two armchairs in the corner. He made Lily sit on his lap, which she did so rather reluctantly.

She tried to pry his arms off her, but he held her down tightly. He also held her wand.

"What's going on?" he asked them.

"Nothing," they lied.

"That's not true. I saw the two of you kissing on the astronomy tower!"

"Yeah, listen."

"No, you! I thought you were my friend. My loyal friend."

"I am!"

"No, you're not." James looked really sad and then he said to Lily, "Go to bed."

She left looking relieved.

The next morning when she came down, she saw that Sirius and James had made up.

"Look, James," Lily said. "About last night, Denis in Ravenclaw dared us. I always do a dare. So stop blaming Sirius."

"Yeah, I know. So there is nothing going on between you and Sirius?"

"Nothing, at all." Lily whispered softly under her breath, "Not that you need to know of, you old hag." Luckily James only heard the last part of Lily's sentence and smiled even wider.

But by mid afternoon, things were how they normally were. James was trying to impress Lily who glared at him. This didn't depress him at all.


	3. Quidditch

"Hey, James!"

"Oh, hi Kenny."

"Listen, one of our chasers, Chan, resigned. Do you know anyone who can take his place? I'm asking you first because you're the best player on the team."

"Yeah, but I don't know how well she can fly. How about Lily?" he said smiling mischievously.

"Bring her to practice tomorrow. We'll see how well she does."

"Hey, Lily! I need you to come down to the Quidditch Pitch with me tomorrow. I need your help."

"Find someone else," Lily said from behind her book.

"Yeah, well, I want you."

"Too bad."

James tried again. "Please come and I'll stop bothering you.

"Fine," said Lily exasperated.

"Yes!"

So the next evening, Lily trudged down to the Quidditch Pitch.

"There you are! Now all you have to do is score as many goals as you can. You have five chances."

"What? NO. I can't fly."

"What? Just go."

James saw trouble so he brought the broomstick over to Lily and gently lifted her onto it. He got on the back to push off the ground and slid off as it rose higher. Lily caught the ball and through it angrily. To everyone's surprise, it flew straight into the center goal. James cheered. Now she threw the ball at him. He threw it back. She kicked it and it went in again. At the end, she threw the ball down at James and flew straight at him. Lily stumbled off the broom and stormed towards the castle. 'How could he did this to me?' she thought. 'I never hurt him, yet he puts me on a broom and makes me do something I don't want to do.' James ran after Lily, so she changed her course and ran into the girl's changing room.

"Lily, are you in here?" she heard James call out. "Lily?" He found her eventually and sat down with her on a bench,

"Why don't you ever just leave me alone!" she shouted and ran out.

James later found her cuddled up in an armchair in the common room. Sirius was stroking her hair, but Lily was still crying softly. James backed up. He didn't mean to make her cry. Sirius saw James and beckoned him over. He took his hand off Lily's head and let James stroke her instead.

"Get off James!"

James didn't take his hand off of Lily and she turned on him. He removed his hand immediately.

"Congrats! You're the new chaser!"

"Thanks," said Lily wearily for the hundredth time.

"Hey, Lily!" a cute guy from Ravenclaw called out. "Do you want to go to Hogsmeade next weekend?"

"Ye-"

"No, sorry. She's taken," James said guiding Lily away.

"I was going to say yes!"

"Well I wanted you to go with someone else. Will you go with me?"

"No."

"Will you go out with me?"

"No."

"Will you ever go out with me?"

"NO!" Lily stormed away.

"It was worth a try," Sirius said to James. "Now onto Plan D. I reckon we'll be able to do it in a week or two."

But he didn't get his wish. Lily was playing in her first ever Quidditch match. She had already scored two out of Gryffindors four goals, and she was having fun. She saw James watching her out of the corner of her eye. Lily wished that he would look for the snitch and not her.

Suddenly James dived. At the same time, a Slytherin opponent crashed into her. She fell and the last thing that she could think of was 'I'm going to die!' Then someone caught her and she passed out.


	4. The idea

The Marauders stood around the Hospital Wing door trying to take a peek at Lily. Madam Pomfrey had enough of this and opened it slowly.

"Boys, I already told you, the only way you can see Lily, besides being a teacher, is if you're her best friend." Peter scampered off to go to the Great Hall at this. James thought for a moment and then said,

"I'm her boyfriend. Can I go in?"

Madam Pomfrey looked at the three boys. She shook her head slowly.

"You shouldn't lie, Mr. Potter. I guess I will let you in, though, because you have been waiting all day out here."

The boys dove into the room and raced to Lily's side. She was as still as a statue, and he couldn't hear her breathing.

"Is she, well, dead?" James whispered his eyes filling with tears.

"I don't believe so, but I'm not certain," Madam Pomfrey said and she walked back into her office.

James lay his head down on Lily's chest and cried. He was not ashamed and let the tears keep coming. He looked over at his friends. They both looked upset, but their eyes were dry. James looked back at Lily. He dried his eyes and Lily's shirt with his wand.

"Oh, Lily. You can't leave me, you just can't!" James said. He and his friends stayed by her the whole night and the following day.

At last Monday came and Madam Pomfrey made them leave to go to classes. They still slept in the Hospital Wing, against Madam Pomfrey's wishes.

It was a week after Lily had fallen and James and Sirius were talking loudly. Remus was reading yet another book. Suddenly he said,

"Be quiet, James. I think she's coming around."

James fell silent at once and listened. Lily began breathing slowly and loudly and half an hour later she opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"The Hospital Wing," James breathed.

"Who are you?" Lily asked.

"Don't you remember? I'm James," he said and began to cry.

"And you are?" she said turning to Sirius.

"Sirius," he muttered before running towards the exit with tears dripping onto the floor.

"Remus, can you tell them to please relax?"

"How do you know my . . . oh!" Remus said before telling Sirius to sit back down.

"Relax, guys. I remember everything. Until I fell that is." Lily said scrunching up her nose trying to remember.

"You really do remember me, then?" James asked sniffing.

"Oh, course. And get off my bed, Potter." Lily said sharply. "Make yourself useful and tell me what happened."

James smiled slightly and said, "Well, I had just caught the snitch when Whrangleton crashed into you. I saw it because I kept looking at you out of the corner of my eye. I saw you fall. You were really high up, and fell hundreds of feet down. I was so scared. I flew over to you, but you were about two inches from hitting the ground and dying. I snatched you, but you had already passed out."

"Yeah," continued Sirius. "And then to try and revise you, James kissed you!"

"He did what!" a horrified Lily said. "James, how could you!"

He grinned and messed up his hair some more. "It was easy," he said.

"Well, I'm disgusted! Get out of here, now!" she screamed. Sirius grabbed James's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on," he said and the three of them walked out of the Hospital Wing. Lily lay back on her pillows, exhausted.

Outside, the three boys talked.

"That was wonderful. She wakes up and starts yelling at us," Sirius said.

"I know what to do!" James suddenly yelled. "How did we not think of this before? All I have to do is make Lily jealous. I need to go out with someone else. But I want to be Lily's girlfriend by her birthday in January."

"We have two months, then. Let's start." Sirius and Remus looked at each other and sighed. A lot needed to get done, and a lot could go wrong.

When Lily walked back into the Great Hall again on Monday, James was sitting with a girl with curly brown hair. He was forcing himself to laugh at her lame remarks.

"What's up with James?" Lily asked Sirius who was her new best friend.

"He found a girl that he really likes," he answered.

"But he's faking his laugh."

"Yeah, well. That's life."

"James, where is Shannon?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"Did you kiss her yet?"

James looked at him and said, "No, and I hope that I don't have to. It would be a wasted kiss."


	5. Sirius

A month later, Sirius walked over to where Lily was sitting and reading in the courtyard.

"Hey Sir!"

"Hey Lily. Listen," he said. He nodded and Remus came over to them.

"Hey. We need your help. James is not acting himself at all anymore. He keeps disappearing and he hardly speaks to us. Please help us!" Remus said.

"Why me?"

"You're the smart one. And our last hope," Remus added.

"Lily thought for a moment. "Fine," she said. "But only because you guys are my best friends, not because I like James. As you know, I hate him."

"So you will help us?" Sirius asked Lily to make things clear.

"Yes," she said. Sirius ran over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Ew! Get off, Sirius. You're disgusting!"

"Sorry," he said and Lily smiled. Inside the castle, somebody else smiled. He wanted Lily, but at least James would be upset. Snape walked over to where James stood with his girlfriend, Shannon.

"Hey, Potter! Guess what! Did you know that Sirius and Lily are dating?" he said.

"Good for them-wait WHAT!" Snape smirked.

"You didn't know? They were in the courtyard kissing! It was kind of hard to miss."

"Shannon, I'll catch up with you later," James said running off towards the courtyard.

He was out of breath when he saw them. Lily and Sirius were holding hands.

"What are you doing!"

"Walking," Lily said coolly.

"No, before then. You were just kissing. Snive-I mean I saw you. I didn't know you were dating!" James looked so angry, he could have picked up a tree and thrown it 50 meters away.

"We're not-" Lilly began.

"Yes, we're dating. And why do you care. You're with Shannon, anyways." Sirius looked at James and grabbed Lily's hand tightly and walked off.

"What was that about?" she hissed.

"He was so jealous. I can't wait to see what he does."

"But, Sirius. I'm not trying to make him jealous. I hate Potter." Sirius shrugged.

"Just play along for now. I think James is already beginning to be himself again."

Back inside the common room, James was pacing back and forth. He looked up and saw Sirius the traitor and Lily his crush walk inside.

"I'm going to go to bed. Good night, Sirius," Lily said. Sirius and Lily both saw James and together they moved towards each other and kissed. A wicked grin spread across Sirius's face. James looked stunned.

"Good night, Lily," he said.

Lily whispered in his ear, "Tell me if you have any trouble from him." Sirius nodded.

As soon as Lily disappeared, James exploded. Sirius merely shrugged off James's screams and walked upstairs. He fell asleep that night thinking about Lily, wonderful Lily. He really did like her, but he knew she needed James and James needed her. Besides, it was almost Christmas and coming up was Lily's birthday. The Marauders were running out of time.


	6. Lily and James

"Hey, Lily."

"Yeah, Sir. What's up?"

"I need to break up with you. I really don't want to, but I need to. I kind of miss hanging out with James. He's all alone because Shannon broke up with him. I think he just might be back to normal. We really couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, okay. No offense, but you're not the world's best kisser."

"Me?" Sirius said pretending to be shocked.

"Yeah."

"I think we should break up in front of James."

"Fine. I'll pretend to be all sad. You too."

"All right."

"Here goes," Lily said.

"Yep." They climbed into the common room arguing.

"Stop teasing me!" Lily said as rehearsed.

"Well, it's not my fault that you hang out with weirdoes."

"Severus is my friend. I can't believe you would hurt him. You and that awful Potter."

"James is my friend."

"And Severus mine."

"I can't be around you any longer."

"Me neither. Go with that awful Potter, your real best friend."

"Good idea. Then I wouldn't have to be around you anymore."

"I hope I never see you again!" Lily screamed and ran to her dormitory. She smiled when she was in her room. All of Gryffindor had been in the common room, so Sirius got his wish. Now maybe she could date a cute guy from a different house, or from an older grade. She would make up with Sirius tomorrow. Lily heard the door open. She ran to the bathroom and made herself cry.

"Lily?"

"Yeah," Lily hiccupped.

"It's going to be all right."

"I know," Lily sighed.

At breakfast the following morning, Lily noticed that Sirius and James had started talking to each other again. She smiled and sat down. She was buttering her toast when James slid into the seat next to her.

"I heard that you and Sirius broke up," he said softly.

"Yeah, the whole school does," she said quietly. She looked at Sirius. He smiled at her but pretended to be miserable about the breakup around everyone else. Lily decided to imitate him.

"Well, I'm here if you need a shoulder to cry on," James said. Lily nodded and he continued. "If you need -ah- a boyfriend for the winter dance, then I'm available," James said. Lily saw the invitation that morning. It was scheduled for the 17th of December.

"Maybe," she said and left the table finishing her toast as she walked.

James walked over happily to Sirius. He smiled sadly and put his head on the table.

"Come on, Sir."

"That's what Lily used to call me," Sirius said pretending that he was about to cry. He stood up and walked out of the Great Hall with James.

"Oh, get over it. You didn't like her much, anyways."

"That's what you think." James was quiet for a second. Then he said,

"Let's go to Charms."

By dinnertime, Lily and Sirius were friends again. James sat between them to make sure nothing happened, and he realized that his best friend was going to flirt with Lily ever again. He was beginning to think that they had been faking it all along.

"Hey, Sirius. I'm really tired. Give me a piggy back ride upstairs."

"I'll do it!" James said. Lily sighed but scrambled onto his back.

"Gosh, Lily. You've gotten heavier."

"Maybe you've gotten weaker," she muttered and Sirius laughed. James ran upstairs into the boy's dormitory and slipped on his robe. He and Lily flew across the room. She fell laughing onto his bed and he landed on top of her. James was leaning in to kiss Lily, when BAM! the door flew open.

James jumped onto the floor banging his head on his nightstand. Lily flew straight up and landed with a thud on James. He caught her.

"Oh, sorry guys!" Sirius said closing the door softly again.

"Wait!" Lily cried out. The thought of being alone in a room with James terrified her. "I'm leaving now anyways." Lily ran down the stairs into the common room.

"You ruined the moment," James said. "I was finally alone with her, and you just had to walk in."

"Sorry." Sirius thought. "If all you want to do is be alone with her, I can easily arrange that. How about tonight at 11?" James smiled and Sirius sat to work.

"Hey, Lily!"

"What do you want James?"

"We're all alone. How do you like that? He pulled Lily closer to him. She had expected him to kiss him and sure enough he did. But he pulled away immediately.

"What is that stuff?" he asked her.

"My lip gloss? It's normal. I slipped a barf flavor bean into your mouth, though," Lily said. She ran out of the room laughing as he sat there speechless. Then he had an idea. Maybe the four Marauders could become five? He would need Sirius to help him on that one though. And he still needed to ask her out to the dance tomorrow. James smiled. He was sure that she would say yes after a bit of persuading.

**Authors note: I am not updating again until I get 3 reviews. I got 1 so I need 2 more. Also feel free to leave negative as well as positive reviews.**


	7. Hogsmeade

James walked around the common room for hours the next morning. He was waiting for Lily, but she had woken up terribly late. At last she came down.

"Hey, Lily!"

"What?" she growled straightening her robe. She was glad that it was Friday and they had a Hogsmeade weekend to look forward too, not to mention Christmas coming up.

"I know that you've said no a lot, but will you go out with me, now?" James asked. He was going to ask about the Christmas Ball later.

"N-" began Lily. Then she had an idea. "Yeah, I will."

"YES! I'll meet you tomorrow at one o'clock to go to Hogsmeade" James said as she walked away. She nodded to show that she had heard him. James quickly ran to tell Sirius, who had been sitting down on the other side of the room listening secretly.

"That's great," he said enthusiastically barely listening to James. He secretly groaned. He had seen Lily's face and knew that she was up to something-and it wasn't homework.

"Hey, Lily!" James said walking towards a waiting Lily in the Entrance Hall the next day.

"Hey, James."

"Look, I've been thinking about where we should go, and I've decided that we should eat in The Four Sisters. It's the best restaurant around," James said.

"Perfect."

They reached the restaurant and ordered their lunch. Lily slipped her wand into her hand under the table. She and James talked but she kept looking around. As their food came, Lily flicked her wand. The waiter instantly tripped and the food fell onto James. The waiter stood up and walked away looking embarrassed. Lily flickered her wand again, before she slid it in her pocket.

"Oh, James. It's such a tragedy that our lunch fell on you," Lily said trying to sound sympathetic but she knew that she just said something cheesy.

"It's okay," James said. He raised his wand to his head and muttered, "Removo." Instead of being removed, the food multiplied. Lily giggled. James tried again with a different spell. "Funtillo." The food rose into the air, and with a shake, fell onto James again. James turned red.

"This is weird. Why doesn't this come off?"

"I don't know," Lily said struggling not to smile. For the first time in his life, James glared at her.

"Get it off," he said slowly,

realizing what she had done.

"Sorry, but next time don't put me on a broomstick or kiss me when I don't know or can't do anything about it." Lily hoped out of her seat. "Tell me when you get it off."

James stared after her. How could she be so mean! True, he did put her on a broomstick, but he did save her when she fell.

'She wouldn't have needed saving if you didn't put her on the broom.' a small voice in his head told him. James sighed. 'If only a brought the invisibility cloak with me.' James took a deep breath and walked back to the castle. Everyone stared at him.

James found Sirius in the common room. Sirius was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade because he had pulled a prank several days before, involving two first years, a bag of spoiled candy, and three snakes. For some reason, he didn't sneak into Hogsmeade, either.

"Hey, James. What happened to you?"

"Lily."

"Lily did that?" Sirius said surprised.

"Yep."

"Wicked." Sirius smiled.

"I think that we just unofficially added another Marauder."

"If she wants to join," Sirius added.

"Oh, she'll want to. Come on, let's go tell Remus."

"Oh, and can you get that off you? You look ridiculous!"

Together the boys went to find their friend, while Lily was in Hogsmeade buying sweets. She was thinking about buying James something because she was giving something to Sirius and Remus. She decided against it, because she didn't want James to think she liked him.

Remus was strolling along the streets of Hogsmeade looking for something to buy for Lily. He wanted to get her something because she was his friend, and he treasured every friend he had.

"Mary!" he called out spotting one of Lily's friends.

"Yes, Remus," she said.

"What do you think Lily would want for Christmas? I want to get her something because she's my friend." Mary thought for a moment.

"Get her cute clothes, milk chocolate, or good books and she'll be happy," Mary said.

"Thanks!" Remus ran off to buy Lily some of Honeydukes chocolate and a good novel. Why hadn't he thought of that?

Meanwhile, Lily was looking longingly at the warmth of the Three Broomsticks. She decided to buy herself a butterbeer. Little did Lily know as she stepped into the warm pub, that her life was about to change forever.

**Author's note: What do you want to happen next? I am writing the next chapter now, but I will change it if you have an idea that you would want more. Please review! I have 228 readers and only 4 reviews. I want to see what you like, hate, or want to change. I will not update again until I get a total of 10 reviews. That's only 6 more!**


	8. Christmas Balls and Planning

With a small pop and thud, Lily fell to the floor unconscious. A stunning spell had been sent at her. Three people walked over to her and inspected Lily carefully.

"She's perfect," one of them said.

"Yeah, good thinking. I'm glad you said that we should target the first Mudblood who walks into this dump."

"Well, now we need to think of ways that we can get at her. We already have poison, darts, and a snake. I think two more little things, and then we'll pity her and let her life end!" With that, they all began to giggle evilly. Lily began to stir.

"Let's go, boys," said someone with a deep voice.

Lily awoke. She didn't know what had happened or that three boys were plotting her death. All she knew was that she really needed a butterbeer now.

Remus had been walking by the Three Broomsticks when he saw Lily on the floor and three boys walking out. He was guessing that they were a year older then he, in seventh year Slytherin, because they disaparrated. They were muttering something. He went inside and saw Lily standing up, walking over to the counter.

Remus had overheard a few words that the boys were saying, including Mudblood, death, and torture. Remus quickly strung this together enough to know that Lily was in danger. He walked into the pub and over to where she sat drinking her butterbeer.

"Lily, three boys are planning to murder you, but torture you first," Remus said. Lily looked up at him, shocked.

"How do you know?"

"I heard that talking about it, Lily. Come on, we had better find James and Sirius." Lily reluctantly nodded, looking completely befuddled...

Thirty minutes later, although it felt like several weeks, Lily and Remus found Sirius and James. Remus updated them and then asked,

"James, why are you like that?" Remus said laughing. James glared at him and Lily laughed, too. She pointed her wand at him and said clearly,

"Filine Incaminton!" Instantly, the food disappeared.

"Thanks, Lily," James said. He was still trying to be in her good books. She nodded and began to think. She was quickly interrupted by James.

"Hey, Lily?"

"Mmm?"

"We were wondering if you wanted to join us and become a Marauder," James said sheepishly.

"What?! Why would I want to become a sneaky, dumb, prankster who always gets caught and has had a million detentions and will have about a million more!" With that Lily stormed off. The three Marauders stood dumbstruke rooted to the spot. They were sure she was going to say yes. They were still standing there a minute later when Lily came back.

"But, I will think about it," she said. James ran his fingers through his messy hair and grinned.

"Oh, wait, Lily!" Lily turned around sharply. "Will you go to the dance with me?" Lily considered this. She did like James Potter, but only a little bit. If she went with him, he would stop bothering her for a while, but then he would want to go out with her. She looked at him, and Sirius and Remus. James looked hopeful, Sirius was urging her on, and Remus was smiling at her.

"I guess so," she said slowly. James smiled so much that his face looked as if it was going to split. Lily grinned a little in spite of herself and walked off towards Charms.

Lily met James in the Great Hall at a quarter to seven on the seventeenth of December. She was dressed in her finest robes. They were light gold with pale pink lining and she had twisted her strawberry-blond hair into a kind of bun. She had on dangling gold earrings and overall looked splendid. Everyone gasped at her as she walked by. Some people wolf whistled. Lily found James who couldn't stop staring at her. He had on red robes and they looked perfect on him. Together they were wearing the colors of Gryffindor.

"Wow, Lily," James said softly. He offered his arm to her and Lily took it gratefully. Together they stepped into the Great Hall, which was decorated pleasantly. They was no sign of the house tables.

"Nice robe, Lily," someone whispered. She turned around and saw Sirius winking at her. She blushed a deep red.

"May I have this dance?" James asked Lily with a goofy smile on his face.

"Of course," she answered. They spent the night dancing away and realized that they were one of the few couples still dancing when the clock struck one o'clock. Lily looked around and saw that most people, who had not gone to bed, were watching them. Sirius caught Lily's eye and grinned. She smiled back at him.

Sirius stood up and walked over to Lily.

"May I?" he asked tapping James on the back. He gave his best friend a dirty look but stepped away from Lily.

"What do you want?" Lily asked him.

"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to dance with the most elegant lady here." Lily blushed.

"Oh, Sirius." She smiled and Sirius smiled back. James thought that this was too personal for them, so he stepped back over towards the last remaining couple on the floor.

"Sirius, may I?" he asked imitating Sirius.

"Of course," he answered and bowed to Lily. He kissed her hand and walked off. James and Lily both stared after him.

"What is his problem?" he asked. He remembered Lily and looked over at her. But she was no longer there. "What the - ?" he said. Then he glanced towards the door. She wouldn't! But James marched off, knowing she had.

Meanwhile Sirius and Lily were having an enchanting conversation as they walked towards the Gryffindor common room. Sirius looked around and seeing nobody, he kissed her. Lily kissed him back. Little did they know that someone was watching and that someone was James.

When they broke apart, they bade each other good night and hurried towards their separate dormitories. James had now seen them kiss too many times to think that they didn't have a thing for each other. Then he thought of something. He had seen them kiss so many times, but what if there were times when he had not seen it? How many times did they go off to snog each other? With this James stormed off towards the boys dormitory, shaking with rage.

"What were you doing with Lily!" he shrieked at Sirius.

"Uh, talking?"

"No, you kissed her-again."

"Uh, well, she, uh . . . "

"Why didn't you tell me you had something for her! I've been wasting my time. I need to try something now that you don't know about!"

"No, James. I don't have anything for her. Look, I'm sorry. How can I make it up to you?"

James stared at him with disbelief. "Make it up to me! You can't and that's the problem! I can't believe that you would do this!" James went into his bed yanked the curtains shut. He tried to fall asleep, but thoughts of Lily with Sirius kept filling his head.

**Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it took so long to update, but I was really busy. I have the next chapter written out, but I'm not posting it until I get 15 reviews. It's only 5 more. You can do it!**


	9. Christmas

Somehow or other, Sirius did make it up to James, and they were friends again. Sirius just had to watch his friend's mood. Christmas holidays started the next day, and Sirius and Remus were going home with James. Lily was going home, too.

On the Hogwarts Express, Lily sat alone staring out of the window. She was miserable. James walked boldly into the compartment with his three friends.

"Get out now!" Lily said not bothering to see to whom she was talking to. She didn't want company and that was that. James took a step forward and silently summoned her wand. Lily felt it slide out of her pocket and spun around.

"Potter! Give me back my wand, NOW!" She stood up angrily, prepared to fight with her hands if she had to. James stood there, so she punched him hard in the stomach.

"Ow!" he said as he fell down onto the floor. He managed to stand up but felt the pain in his stomach. Lily demanded again for her wand. James had a feeling that a spell with her wand would be worse then her fists. Sure enough, he got punched again. This time, he let Lily's wand go. She snatched it, but hesitated. She didn't really want to hurt James. So she used her wand to carry him out of the compartment and dump him on the floor.

"You alright?" Sirius asked helping James to his feet.

"Yeah. Nice of Lily not to really hurt me, though." The others nodded.

"So, did you buy Lily a gift yet for Christmas?" James smiled mischievously.

"Why was Lily looking down, just now?" Sirius asked. James shrugged and then gasped.

"Oh, no!"

"What?" the others asked him.

"Lily, oh no! Her parents died in November, remember? No wonder she's sad. She's going home to where her parents are no longer!"

The others gasped. They knew Lily had a sister, but she never treated her well. Lily was going to have a terrible Christmas.

"We have to invite her over to my house," James said.

"Yeah, like she'll go over there. She hates you, remember?" Sirius said to James.

"It's worth a try," he said and stood up. Sirius and Remus followed, but Peter stayed where he was.

"Lily?" James asked cautiously. He watched as she nodded, but never did she look at him or the others.

"Uh, we wanted to know if you could spend Christmas with us," James continued just as softly. He sat next to her and she sniffed softly.

"Yeah, we promise not to play any pranks or do anything that would upset you," Sirius said seeing this may help.

"Please, Lily?"

Lily stared out the window. She knew why they were doing this and she appreciated it. It would be nice to spend the holiday away from her sister, but she still didn't like James. Finally she nodded. She knew whom she would rather spend it with.

"So, yes or no?" James asked calmly.

"Yes," Lily breathed. James grinned and hugged her.

"I'll make sure that this is the best Christmas you have ever had." Lily had to smile.

James, Sirius, and Remus stayed with Lily until the end of the trip. They had to leave to get their trunks, and Lily agreed to meet them near Platform 10.

At Platform 9 ¾, James saw Lily walk towards the exit. He followed her and saw her being 'greeted' by her sister.

"Listen, Petunia. I'm not staying with you at home this year," Lily said. She was horrified when Petunias' eyes lit up in glee.

"You made me drive over here to pick you up when you weren't even coming?" she said angrily. "I could have spent time with my boyfriend, Vernon." She pouted.

"Sorry, but there was a change of plans." Petunia huffed and walked away without saying anything. James watched this scene sadly.

"Poor Lily, really doesn't have family anymore," he whispered to Sirius who nodded. Lily walked towards them.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. and Mr. Potter," Lily said after James introduced them. They smiled warmly at her.

"Mom," James said. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" Mrs. Potter nodded and walked over towards James.

"Mom, can Lily stay with us? She's the girl who I have been talking about for years, and her parents died in November. You might have seen her sister a few minutes ago, and she is really nasty towards Lily. I didn't want her to have a bad Christmas, especially because she would be so lonely."

Mrs. Potter looked at her son, nodded and said, "I wish you could have told us this earlier. I know you couldn't, but it would have been nice. But, yes, James, of course Lily may stay with us." Mrs. Potter went to talk to her husband who smiled and spoke to Lily.

"Excellent Lily! It is a pleasure to meet you. I can't wait for you to spend these next two weeks at our house!" He could see a trace of a smile on Lily's face and lead the group towards his car. It looked ordinary on the outside, but it was huge on the inside.

"Whoa," she said softly. The front had a normal seat for the driver and a comfortable two seater couch next to it. In the back, there were two three seater couches. Lily took one and James sat down next to her. Remus and Sirius sat on the other. It was a rather quiet ride, and everyone was relieved when they reached the Potter's Mansion. It was huge.

The mansion was about three stories high and six stories across. It was decorated beautifully with sculptures and flowers in the huge garden. Lily was awestruck.

"Welcome home," James said watching as her face filled with happiness. He helped her with her trunk and showed Lily and the others where they would be sleeping. He gave Lily the room that was usually Sirius's because it connected with his own large suite. He gave Sirius and Remus the rooms next to hers.

Lily quickly got used to life around the Potter Mansion. It was comfortable here, and she was very happy. She even helped decorate the giant house for Christmas. In no time at all, it was Christmas Eve. Lily was exhausted, having been shopping for the Potters (well, not James) and decorating the house. She looked at the tree in her room. The Potters all had big trees in their rooms. The children let one house elf put their gifts for each other under those trees, late at night. Then in the morning, they exchanged gifts with Mrs. and Mr. Potter and gave out some extra things under the Grand Tree in the Living Room.

Lily got into bed and was drifting off to sleep, when the door flew open.

"Hey, Lily! Oh, sorry. I didn't realize that you were in bed," James said closing the door. He had not broken his promise and didn't annoy Lily purposely anymore.

"It's okay, James. What did you want?"

"I just, ah, wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas," James said blandly.

"No, really." Lily could see right through James and his lie.

"Nah, it would upset you," he said softly.

"It's alright." Lily took a deep breath and James sat on the end of her bed.

"I just wanted to ask you if this has been a good Christmas so far. I mean, it must be hard without your parents and everything."

"No, it's been alright. Actually, I've been having a great time so far. I'm glad that I came. I would be so miserable at home with no one there but my sister and her awful boyfriend." James smiled. "So, thanks." Lily concluded.

"No problem. I would do it anytime for you."

"Good night, James." Lily was glad she got something for James after all, even though he didn't know it.

"Good night, Lily. Merry Christmas."

James was so happy when he fell asleep that night. He had finally had a real conversation with Lily, and she didn't get angry with him. He couldn't wait until he saw her face when she received his present.

The next morning, Sirius and Remus came bounding into James's room.

"Come on! I want to open my gifts," Sirius whined. James smiled.

"Yeah, get up James. We always open our gifts together," Remus said. James rolled out of bed and stood up. Sliding his glasses onto his face, he said,

"What about Lily?"

"We were going to get you up and then go to wake her," Sirius admitted.

"Okay, but as she's the last one to get up, we have to go to her room to open everything." They nodded and dashed into their rooms, while James went to wake Lily.

"Hey, Lily! It's Christmas. Come on, get up!" he said. He couldn't have hid the excitement in his voice if he wanted to.

"All right," came the muffled voice of Lily. "Get me my robe." James picked up her scarlet robe from the bedpost and handed it to her. She slid it on and got slowly out of bed. By this time, Sirius and Remus had returned, and James left to carry his stuff in.

"Okay," he said when they were all sitting in a circle, a small mound next to each of them. "Why don't we open them one by one?"

"Oh, come on. Let's just get them opened!" Sirius said inspecting a suspicious package. They all agreed to this and tore off the paper of their gifts.

Lily gasped when she saw what she unwrapped. She was clutching a golden locket that was elegantly designed with hearts on it. When she opened it, she saw a space for two pictures. Two rubies held them in place.

Lily looked up at James who was smiling at her.

"You?" she whispered. "Thank you." She hugged James and he looked absolutely delighted. They opened the rest of the items. Besides the golden locket, Lily had received chocolate and three interesting looking novels from Remus, and to everyone's surprise, a cute top and miniskirt from Sirius.

Lily looked at him skeptically. Sirius smiled. He handed her another package. Lily unwrapped it to reveal a beautiful diary. She smiled.

Remus had received mostly books, and he sat down to begin reading at once, while James received chocolates from Lily, books about Quidditch from Remus, and new Quidditch gloves from Sirius. Sirius had also received chocolates from Lily, and some small, but very useful, joke items.

"I have something else," Lily said at the end. She went under the bed and pulled out a large and oddly shaped package. Everyone started at it.

"It's for the three of you, but mainly for Sirius and James," Lily said. They opened it curiously. Inside was a map. They looked from Lily to the map, and back again. She smiled and pulled it away from them.

"I overheard you talking about this map," she explained. "You were talking about making a map to see where everyone was in Hogwarts. Well, I made it for you, and it changes every year, when students come and go."

The three of them stared at her, amazed. This was really advanced magic.

"Thanks, Lily. You must have worked so hard on this," they said. They suddenly jumped, as a house elf appeared.

"Sorry Master James, and his friends, for disturbing you, but Mistress –"

"Yeah, Timy. We're going downstairs now. Thanks," James interrupted.

The four of them trooped down to the Living Room. They had forgotten that they had more gifts to open. Mrs. and Mr. Potter were amazing, so Lily spent all of her money buying a beautiful pearl necklace and a really nice wizard watch that she had found in Diagon Alley. In return, they shocked her by handing her a Comet 260, the fastest broom in the world that had come out days previously.

"I told them that you were an amazing flyer, so they bought you this broom," James said. Lily was thrilled. It had been amazing, that Christmas. She thought about Petunia and hoped that she was enjoying herself right now. Because for Lily, this really was the best Christmas ever, even without her parents.


End file.
